After Death
by DoctorWholock
Summary: Have you ever wondered what happened to our beloved Merlin characters after Arthur died? Well, here's how, and why you've seen them in Doctor Who. (I know, it's a bad summary, but the longer, MUCH BETTER one is inside. Please read and review!) Rated T to be safe.
1. Strange Dreams

After the death of King Arthur Pendragon, and the land of Albion was united, our beloved characters lived out their lives before they were scattered throughout time and space, their memories wiped. The thing that connected them? At one point or another, all of them had met the Doctor. Each of them had met the same man with different faces that would help unite them all back together again. Once they are united, what then?

Then the Once And Future King will rise once more.

* * *

Chapter 1

Planet: Midnight

Time: 27th Century

Doctor: 10th Incarnation

Jethro Cane kept having strange dreams. Every night for the past couple weeks he would dream of a war, a woman, and a blonde man. The woman was always in black. She had black hair and evil green eyes that sometimes flashed gold. The man looked strangely familiar, even though Jethro had never seen him before. He always carried a look of determination in his bright blue eyes. The strangest part about the man was that he always wore chain-mail, sometimes even a large billowing red cloak with a golden dragon on one side. The blonde always fought with a sword in hand, followed by many other seemingly familiar faces. They fought against people on the side of the evil looking woman.

Then the man would almost die.

Then Jethro would dream he picked up the body, and took it to a forest. There, the man regained consciousness. Jethro would be crying. He was about to reveal a secret, he knew that's what was happening next, when the dream would stop. It always stopped in the same place.

Sometimes, though, after the dream had ended, Jethro would hear a quiet, urging voice repeat the same thing over and over again.

_Emrys. Remember, Emrys. Remember who you are._

Then he'd wake up.

* * *

"Hurry, Jethro! We don't want to be late!" Jethro's mother, Val Cane calls to her son. Jethro sighs and slowly heads outside the room to meet his parents. They were currently on vacation on the planet Midnight, and were headed to the Crusader 50 to visit the Sapphire Waterfall.

They only had to walk a short distance, and were five minutes early, so Jethro didn't understand what his mother was making such a big deal out of.

He got on, and picked a seat towards the back, away from his parents.

"Now don't be silly, come and sit with us. Look! We get slippers!" His mother urges him.

"Jethro, do as your mother says." Biff Cane tells his son.

"I'm sitting here." He argues.

"Oh, he's ashamed of us. But he doesn't mind us paying, does he?" Jethro's father says.

"Don't start, you two. Should I save the juicepack or have it now? Look, it's peach and clementine!" Val says. Jethro ignores his parents. He hardly pays attention when the hostess starts talking.

"Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, welcome on board the Crusader Fifty, if you could fasten your seatbelts, we'll be leaving any moment. Doors!" She says to all the passengers. The entrance door closes. "Shields down!" _Thunk!_ Metal shutters descend over all the windows, blocking all view of the outside.

"I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace - as you know, the planet Midnight orbits an X-tonic star, which has fused the planet's surface into solid diamonds. Can't risk a little sunburn! And a reminder that Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals. The fire exit is at the rear, though, should we ever need to use it... You first. Now I'll hand you over to Driver Joe..." The hostess continues before a voice starts to speak over the intercom.

"Driver Joe at the wheel, hello! There's been a diamondfall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour, as you'll see on the map." Jethro looks up to see a map of the Crusader, its original path, and its new path. He resumes his previous position as the driver starts to speak again.

"The journey covers 500 kliks to the Multifaceted Coast, duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for travelling with us, and as they used to say in the olden days... Wagons roll!" There was a rumble, then a slight jolt forward as they started moving.

"For your entertainment, we have the Music Channel playing retrovids of Earth Classics," the hostess pauses as screens come down. "Also, we have the latest Artistic Installations from Ludovic Klein," projections of shapes and blobs show on the walls, dancing on the faces of the passengers. "Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat from the Animation Archives," She pulls down a big white screen from the roof of the Crusader in front of the crew cabin door. Then projected on it was cartoons from the 1940's. "Four hours of funtime! Enjoy!" At that, the hostess walks to the back.

_Give me a break._ Jethro thinks as he puts in his earbuds. Less than a minute later, he can hear a strange buzzing, then all the "entertainment" shuts off. He takes out his earbuds to figure out what's happening.

"Well that's a mercy!" An older man, Professor Hobbes says, followed by the hostess running forward.

"I do apologize, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon. We seem to have a failure of the Entertainment System." She says rather flustered. _What a pity._ Jethro thinks.

"But what do we do?!" His mother exclaims.

"We've got four hours of this! Four hours of just sitting here!" His father exclaims. Jethro starts to put his headphones back in when a rather over-excited man in the front starts to talk.

"Tell you what! We'll have to talk to each other instead! How about that, then? Eh?" The Doctor says with a smile.

_Great. Just great._

* * *

_98 Kilks later_

"So Biff said, 'I'm going swimming.'" Val Cane says to those around her. The Doctor included, but Jethro, not. He still sits a bit apart from everyone else, bored out of his mind, forced to listen to the conversation since his game player died.

"Oh, I was all ready, trunks and everything! Nose plug!" Jethro's father says, taking over the story from his wife.

"He had this little nose plug, you should've seen him." Back and fourth it went.

"So I went marching up to the lifeguard, and he was a Shamboni, you know, those big foreheads?"

"Great big forehead!"

"And I said, 'where's the pool?' And he said, the pool... is abstract!" Both Val and Biff Cane said this last part together, and since it wasn't the first time he'd heard the story, Jethro mouthed the words with a even more bored expression. As if he could get any more bored. All the others listening to the story were laughing.

"It wasn't a real pool!" Jethro's mother exclaims with a laugh.

"It was a concept!" Biff said, grinning from ear to ear.

"It wasn't real!" Val says.

"And you had a nose plug!" The Doctor says happily. Jethro's father mimics the nose plug.

"I was like this!" Everyone was laughing their heads off, even the hostess was enjoying it a little. Jethro just sunk into the seat with embarrassment.

* * *

_About 22__5 Kilks later_

Just when Jethro thought this trip couldn't get any worse, the Doctor walks over and sits by him.

"Everyone else has talked to at least one other person on the Crusader. Everyone but you, Jethro. Mind if I join you?" The Doctor asks, even though he's already sitting down. Jethro just gives a slight nod and tilts his head back. Then the unexpected happened. Jethro knew that the Doctor would try to make conversation with him, but what he said jarred the teenager.

"There's something bothering you, isn't there? Something you haven't quite figured out, and haven't told anyone."

"How do you know?" Jethro asks, shocked. _Was it really that obvious?_

"I've lived a long life. I can tell when there's something bothering someone." The Doctor answers. "What is it?" Jethro didn't know if he should trust this man he just met.

"Trust me. I won't tell anyone if that's what you're worried about." Jethro could see that this man was being sincere. He sighs.

"I've...been having dreams lately. Strange dreams. The same every night for the last couple weeks." Jethro says slowly.

"And what happened in these dreams?" The Doctor asks.

"A war. Always a war. The people in the war looked so familiar, though I've never seen them before. One was a blonde man in chain-mail with a sword. He looked like he could be a king. The other was a quite evil looking woman. She was always in black, and had long black hair. The worst part about her was her eyes. They were a pale green, but sometimes flashed gold. Whenever they turned gold, something bad would happen." Jethro tells the Time Lord.

"There's something else, isn't there?" The Doctor answers to Jethro's story.

"Yes." Jethro answers hesitantly. "Sometimes, after the dream would end, I would hear a voice that also seemed familiar. It was always urgent, and always repeating." The Doctor had a slightly worried look on his face.

"Jethro, what did the voice say?"

"'Emrys. Remember, Emrys. Remember who you are.' What does it mean, remember who I am? I'm-I'm Jethro Cane. My name's not Emrys." Deep down inside, Jethro feels a tug on his heart, like he _knows_ Emrys is really his name.

"I don't know, but I'll try to help you figure it out." The Doctor says, confident he will figure out Jethro's dreams.

That doesn't mean he knows how long it will take.

**A/N: I hope you enjoy Chapter 1 of my new story! Please read and review!**

**P.S. Disclaimer: I do NOT own Doctor Who, and parts of the dialogue was taken from the episode's script I found online.**

**P.P.S. Yes, I know that not all Merlin actors have been in an episode of Doctor Who, so those characters/plots will be my own. But I'd be ecstatic if you would like to give me any ideas for those who were never in it. (Planet, time, adventure, name, etc.) Enjoy!**


	2. Remember, Emrys

**A/N: Alrighty! _Very_ long chapter...but it's the rest of the episode...Sorry it took me so long to post. Christmas break just ended and I had to get back to school stuff. I've been so busy but I'm back with this chapter!  
**

_251 Kilks Later_

A while after Jethro and the Doctor's talk about Jethro's strange dreams, Professor Hobbes gave a presentation about Midnight. Jethro was actually a little compelled to listen, and moved up a little closer to the front of the Crusader.

"So this is Midnight, do you see? Bombarded by the sun! X-tonic rays, raw Galvanic Radiation, and the history is fascinating. Dee Dee, next slide, come on!" Dee Dee, his apprentice, is at an old-fashioned slide projector halfway down the isle. She changes the slide to a pie chart of Midnight's eras.

"It's a pet project, I'm actually the first person to research this. Cause you see..." Then the Professor lowers his voice, almost like he was telling a ghost story. Jethro, like he others, listens intently.

"The history is fascinating, because there is _no_ history. There's no life in this entire system, there couldn't be. Not ever. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no one came here. In all eternity. No living thing.." Jethro didn't understand. How could Hobbes know if no one can go outside? He decides to ask his question.

"But how do you know? I mean, if no one can go outside..."

"Oh, his imagination! Here we go!" His mother says. Jethro thought it was a good question.

"He's got a point, though." The Doctor says. _At least _someone_ is on my side._ Jethro thinks. He looks to Professor Hobbes.

"Exactly! We look upon this world through glass. Safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit, no Human footstep. And here we are, now. Crossing Midnight, but never touching it. A planet older than the Earth shining in the sky since before the Human Race was born, and still unknown." Hobbes answers.

Then the Crusader 50 stops. The engines die, then the lights blink back to normal. Everyone turns tense and alert.

"We've stopped. Have we stopped?" Val Cane says, her voice shaking ever so slightly.

"Are we there?" Her husband asks to no one in particular.

"Can't be, it's too soon." Dee Dee says, confused as the others.

"They don't stop, Crusader vehicles never stop." Professor Hobbes says. Then to the hostess, "Hostess? Why have we stopped?" The hostess goes to the back, not answering the question.

"If you could just return to you original seats, thank you very much, it's just a small delay." She goes to a phone on the back wall, and speaks into it. "Joe? What's going on?" Everyone goes back to their seat except for Dee Dee. First she starts to pack up the projector.

"Maybe just a pit stop." Biff says.

"But there's no pit to stop in, I've been on this expedition fourteen times, they never stop." Hobbes states.

"Well evidently, we have stopped, so what's the point in denying it?" Sky, a woman who hardly talked the whole trip, says sharply. _Exactly what I was thinking._ Jethro thinks with a smirk. He decides to try to make a laugh out of the situation.

"We've broken down!" He says gleefully.

"Thank you, Jethro." His mother tells him.

"In the middle of nowhere!" He continues with a rather crazed look on his face as he hangs over the back of the seat in front of him.

"That's enough, now stop it!" His father chides him. _Whatever._ Jethro thinks.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're just experiencing a short delay, the driver needs to stabilize the engine feeds. It's perfectly routine. If you could just stay in you seats." The hostess says to her passengers after getting of the phone. Jethro watches as the Doctor gets up and heads for the driver's cabin. "No, I'm sorry sir, if you could sit down, thank you." She tries to tell the Doctor. Jethro's too far from it to see what it says, even when he squints.

"Engine expert! Two ticks!" The Doctor presses the button, opening the cabin door. He steps in, then the door closes behind him.

Jethro and the rest, they watch the cabin door in silence, waiting for it to open. It's been several minutes, and just when Jethro thinks it won't open for a long time, it opens again, and out steps the Doctor. Then questions are asked. It starts with the one blonde woman, Sky.

"What did they say? Did they tell you? What is it, what's wrong?"

"Oh, just stabilizing, happens all the time." The Doctor assures her. _Good. That means it shouldn't be long. _Jethro thinks, almost grateful.

"Back to your seat, thank you." The hostess says. The Doctor takes a seat. Jethro continues to watch him. He sees Dee Dee lean forward and tap on his shoulder. She's quiet, she Jethro has to strain to hear.

"Excuse me, Doctor, but they're micropetrol engines, aren't they?"

"Now, don't bother the man." Professor Hobbes tells Dee Dee, just a little louder than she had talked.

"But my father was a mechanic, and... micropetrol doesn't stabilize, what does 'stabilize' mean?" Dee Dee continues, ignoring the Professor. Jethro doesn't really understand what she's saying, but he knows it can't be good.

"Well. Bit of flim-flam. don't worry, they're sorting it out." The Doctor tries to reassure her. Professor Hobbes starts to question the Doctor, and Jethro can tell he's worried.

"So it's not the engines?"

"Just a little pause." The Doctor says.

"How much air have we got?" Hobbes says, just a little too loud. Val Cane hears.

"What did he say?" She asks. _Oh, no. _Jethro thinks. _She's going to get_ _over-dramatic, I just know it._

"Nothing!" The Doctor says. Jethro knows his mother isn't going to let it go, though.

"Are we running out of air?" She continues.

"I was just speculating." Professor Hobbes tries to tell her. Jethro's parents aren't listening.

"Is that right? Miss? Are we running out of air?" Jethro's father asks the hostess panicky.

"Is that what the Captain said?" Sky joins in, just as panicky.

"If you could all remain calm." The hostess says.

"How much air have we got?" Val says. _Give it a rest. Stop being dramatic._

"I can assure you, everything is under control-" The hostess gets cut off as six people talk at the same time.

"Doesn't look like it to me! I'm entitled to ask! Are we or are we not running out of air?!" Biff Cane says.

"Well he said it, and he's a Professor! He should know! He started it!" Jethro was getting really annoyed by his parents, mostly his mum. She never got that not everything someone says is true.

"Mum, just stop it, oh my God, you're shaming me." He tries to tell her. She doesn't even listen. _Why do I even try?_

"Mrs. Cane, I'm not an expert in mechanics, it was just idle speculation." Professor Hobbes tries to tell Jethro's mother.

"It's a circular filter, it's fine, just read the manual." Dee Dee tries to tell everyone. No one seems to listen.

"I want to see the Driver! Hostess! I demand to see the Driver!" Sky yells at the hostess. Out of the corner of his eye while he was still helplessly trying to convince his mum to shut up, Jethro sees the Doctor stand on his seat.

"Oi! Now hush hush hush, everyone, hush, thank you," the Doctor still doesn't have everyone's attention. "QUIET!" He shouts. Everyone goes silent. "Thank you. Now, if you'd care to listen to my good friend Dee Dee..." The Doctor looks over to Dee Dee, slightly motioning with his head for her to go ahead and start talking. Jethro, like the others, turn to look at her, listening to what she has to say.

"Oh! Um. It's just that... the air's on a circular filter. We could stay breathing for ten years. Although, that would be a bit silly. " She informs everyone.

"But there you are! And I've spoken to the Captain, I can guarantee you, everything's fine -" The Doctor gets cut off.

_Tap. Tap._

_It came from the outside. _Jethro thinks, turning left, towards the sound.

"What was that?" Val says, her voice quivering.

"It's just the metal. We're cooling down. It must be settling." Though even as he says it, Professor Hobbes sounds uncertain.

"I've never heard it make a noise like that." The hostess says.

"Rocks. Could be rocks falling." Dee Dee presumes.

"What I want to know is, how long to we have to sit here -" Biff Cane gets cut off, just like the Doctor had.

_Tap. Tap._

It was louder this time.

"What is it?" Sky demands.

"Someone's out there." Jethro's mum says.

"Now, don't be ridiculous." Hobbes tries to say.

"Like I said, it could be rocks." Dee Dee says again.

"We're out in the open. Nothing could fall against the side." The hostess says worriedly.

_Tap. Tap._

It's moved now, and everyone stares, trying to locate it. The Doctor and Jethro are grim but fascinated.

"Knock knock." The Doctor says.

"Who's there?" Jethro replies in a creepy tone.

"Is there something out there? Well? Anyone? What the hell is making that noise?" The woman Sky is tense, and Jethro thinks it strange that she's reacting more than anyone else.

"Excuse me! I must insist." Professor Hobbes tries to reason. "I'm sorry, the the light out there is _X-tonic_, that means it would destroy any living thing, in a split-second, I mean _any_ sort of life form - carbon-based, hydrogen-based, silicates, gaseous, every form of life in the known universe, it's impossible, literally _impossible_, for someone to be outside-"

_Tap! Tap!_

It's even louder now. They all flinched and look to the far left where the sound seemed to come from.

"What the hell is that then?!" Sky practically screams. No one answers her. The only one that does anything next is the Doctor, moving toward the origin of the last sound and pressing his face against the wall.

"Sir! You really should stay in your seat-" The hostess tries to tell him. Blimey, she was becoming quite a nuisance.

"Bit late for that!" Sky tells her. Jethro would've smirked at that, if only they were in a different situation. It wasn't very funny anymore.

"Hello...?" The Doctor says to the wall.

_Tap. Tap. _

It's even further away from its original place now.

"It's moving..." Jethro says quietly.

_Tap. Tap._

Further. And then...

_Tap. Tap._

It's now coming from the Emergency Door on the back wall. There's a pause, then the door gives a slight rattle. The hostess backs away from the door.

"It's trying the door." Val says.

"There is no 'it', there's nothing out there. Can't be." _He should really just stop. Obviously there _is_ something out there. _Jethro thinks about the Professor.

The door rattle a little again.

Then, nothing. They all stare at the now silent door, bewildered past belief.

_Tap. Tap._

They all jump, for the sound came from the middle of the ceiling. They all look up.

_Tap. Tap._

It's over to the right hand corner...

_Tap. Tap._

Onto the right hand wall now, on the Entrance Door.

"That's the entrance. Can it get in?" Jethro's mum says.

"No, that door's on two hundredweight of hydraulics." Dee Dee says, still watching the door.

"Stop it. Don't encourage them." Hobbes scolds Dee Dee.

"Then what do _you _think it is?" She answers.

Jethro watches as his father walks towards the door.

"Biff, don't.." His wife warns him.

"Mr. Cane, better not.." The Doctor agrees.

"Nah, cast iron, that door..." He argues. Then knocks on the door. Three times.

_Tap tap tap._

Silence. No one moves.

_Tap tap tap._

The knock's returned.

Everyone freaks out, Biff retreats, and they all shift away to the left side of the Crusader. All except Sky.

"Three times! Did you hear that, t_hree times?!" _Val Cane exclaims.

"It answered!" Jethro says.

"It did it three times!" His mum repeats.

"All right, everyone, calm down-" The Doctor tries.

"But it answered, that was an answer. Don't tell me that thing's not alive, it _answered_ him!" Sky argues once more.

_TAP! TAP! TAP!_

Louder, more urgent it answers. Everyone flinches back further against the wall, except the Doctor who runs to the Entrance Door, listening.

"I really must insist, get back to your seat!" The hostess demands. But Sky, she's losing it, she's more terrified than any of the others.

"Don't just sit there telling us the rules, You're the hostess, you're supposed to do something!" She screams. As Sky finishes scolding the hostess, the Doctor knocks on the door, four times.

_Tap tap tap tap._

It replies.

_TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!_

"What is it? _What is it?_ What the hell is making that noise?" Then to no one in particular, Sky says, "She said she'd get me, just stop it, make it stop. _Someone make it stop!"_ Her panic causes everyone to focus on her as she backs into the front right corner, accusing them all. Everyone talks at once.

"You're not helping! Tell her to shut up!" Val says to anyone who will listen.

"Mrs. Silvestry, just calm down..." Dee Dee tries.

"What are you looking at me for? It's not my fault, he started it," Sky turns to Professor Hobbes, "with his stories, and he made it worse," now she turns to Biff and starts yelling at him, "Why couldn't you leave it alone? Stop staring at me! Just tell me what it is, what is it? _What's out there?!"_

"She's gone mad," is all Jethro can think.

"What's happening back there?" Driver Joe calls on the over-com.

"Passenger in distress, are you getting these noises from outside?" The hostess says over the phone to the driver.

All those 'conversations' were silenced when the tapping became constant.

_Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap._

The Doctor moves away from the door, studying it. Everyone' eyes follow the noise as is moves up and down, tracing a path like a snake, heading forwards, all the way to the right-hand wall...

_Tap tap tap tap tap._

Jethro knows where it's heading, and he's pretty positive at least one of the others realizes the destination.

Sky.

She shrinks down to the floor in the corner, helpless, waiting.

"It's coming for me, it's coming for me, _it's coming for me!"_ Sky sounds like a scared little kid as she repeats. the Doctor runs forward, toward her.

"Get out of there!" He tell her. Before he can reach her...

_WHAM! _The wall above her buckles, and Sky screams.

Then the whole room plunges into darkness. The entire bus moves. It lurches right, sending everyone tumbling, holding on.

There's exploding sparks from wall-panels, which illuminate everyone for a few seconds, then it goes dark again.

Then the same happens, and the bus lurches left, the level again, then, stops.

Silence.

Then the Doctor slowly lifts himself up.

"Arms. Legs. Neck. Head. Nose. I'm fine, anyone else?" Then he's distracted by a broken TV-pivot-arm in front of him. For a second it flickers to life, a pop song, echoing, haunting. The Doctor stares. Then it dies. "How are we? Everyone all right?" He's not looking, but a flash, a glimpse of Rose Tyler appears on the TV screen for a mere second. She desperately shouts, "Doctor!" but alas, it was muted. No one saw it. Then it's gone.

There's whimpers and moans from all around the cabin, but everyone survived, now standing, dazed.

"Earthquake, must be." Professor Hobbes says slowly.

"That's impossible, the ground is fixed, it's solid." Dee Dee argues.

"Don't tell me what's impossible!" He retorts. Then the hostess starts handing out torches.

"We've got torches, everyone, take a torch, they're in the back of the seats." She tells everyone. They all get a torch, then check to make sure everyone's alright, the light illuminating their faces in the otherwise pitch darkness.

Val goes over to her son and hugs him.

"Oh, sweetheart, come here." He doesn't listen, he's too busy looking at Sky with the light of his torch.

"Never mind me, what about her?" He says. The Doctor shines his light toward her also, then starts to head toward her.

Sky's still huddled on the floor in the corner, but now she's facing the wall, like a child thinking they're hidden. She's visibly breathing hard, and the seats around Sky have been destroyed, almost making a clearing.

"What happened to the seats?" Jethro's mum asks.

"Who did that?" His father asks.

The Doctor reaches Sky, and starts talking to her.

"It's alright, it's over, we're still alive, look." He shines his torch onto the wall above her. The metal's not broken, there's just a giant dent, like something punched it. "The wall's still intact. Do you see? We're safe."

In the back, the hostess is on the phone on the back wall.

"Joe, can you hear me Joe? Claude? Driver? Can you hear me?" Then she strides forward down the aisle. "I'm not getting any response. The intercom must be down." The hostess opens the Driver's Cabin Door when she gets to the front wall.

_WHOOSH! _

For a second, the door frame is full of wind, like it contained a hurricane, and raw white light. Everyone is shocked, Val even screams. The hostess slams the button, and the door shuts.

"What was that? What happened?" Val Cane says.

"Is it the Driver? Have we lost the Driver?" Her husband asks.

The hostess backs down the aisle, horrified.

So much happens.

Everyone has their torches on the hostess or the door, until the Doctor leaps across to a wall panel on the front left side and takes out his sonic. Everyone that is, besides Jethro. He just watches Sky, hardly hearing what the others are saying, only a little of the tense, grim conversation seeps through to him.

"...cabin's gone..."

"...ridiculous..."

"...nothing there..."

"...you doing?..."

"...molto bene!..."

"...separated..."

"...I'm sorry...to dust..."

"...distress signal...I promise...alive..."

The full conversation didn't register to Jethro because he was thinking as he watched Sky. He felt as though he'd done something similar to this. Not exactly, just being in a dire situation, and that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't save someone. There was a name, buried in his mind. The name of someone he feels to have held dear, but couldn't save her. He also felt like he often went on "adventures" that went wrong.

The thing is, it reminded him of his dream.

Jethro knew things had taken a turn for the worse with Sky, so he calls over the Doctor, hoping he would be able to do something.

"Doctor. Look at her."

"Right, yes, sorry. Have we got a medical kit?" The Doctor says, walking over to the confused young man.

"Why won't she turn around?" Jethro asks.

Everyone else shines their torches toward Sky, all unnerves. There was just...something strange about her.

"What's her name?" Professor Hobbes asks.

"Silvestry, Mrs. Sky Silvestry." The hostess answers.

The Doctor approaches Sky, but keeps a wary distance.

She's _just _breathing, not doing anything else.

"Sky? Can you hear me? Are you alright? Sky, just look at me." The Doctor says coaxingly.

"That noise, from outside, it's stopped." Jethro says, dread setting in his stomach like a large rock.

"Well thank God for that." His mum says. She doesn't notice what Jethro does.

"But what if it's not outside anymore? What if it's inside?"

"Inside where?"

"It was headed for her." Everyone becomes sick with dread as he says this, and the Doctor inches forward, just a little.

"It's alright, Sky. I just want you to turn around, and face me." The Doctor tells her.

Sky starts to turn, slowly. Everyone stares as she shifts her body, turns her head, and stares at them.

And she's insane.

Sky's eyes are wild and glittering, but undeniably clever.

Val and Biff step back. Everyone's shocked, except a fascinated Doctor.

Absolute silence. Even the alarms that have been ringing in Jethro's head have froze.

Sky barely moves, but her eyes dart from one to another, like they're new.

The Doctor shifts forward, just an inch, and she suddenly whips her stare back to his. She concentrates on him now. Sky tilts her head left, the right, as if studying every detail of him. The Doctor mimics the move, though gently, calmly. Then, quietly, he says, "Sky?" A pause.

"Sky?" She repeats. The alarms are back on in Jethro's head, screaming at him to do something, but he can't. He just can't disrupt this.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor says.

"Are you alright?" Sky repeats again.

"Are you hurt?"

"Are you hurt?"

"You don't have to talk."

"You don't have to talk."

"I'm trying to help."

"I'm trying to help."

"My name's the Doctor."

"My name's the Doctor."

"Okay, can you stop?"

"Okay, can you stop?"

"I'd like you to stop."

"I'd like you to stop."

"Why's she doing that?" Professor Hobbes asks. Sky's gaze darts to him.

"Why's she doing that?"

"She's gone mad." Biff says.

"She's gone mad."

"Stop it." Val tells Sky.

"Stop it."

"I said stop it!"

"I said stop it!"

"I don't think she can." Dee Dee says.

"I don't think she can."

"Alright now stop it, this isn't funny." The Professor says to Sky.

"Alright now stop it, this isn't funny."

"Hush, all of you." The Doctor says.

"Hush, all of you."

"My name's Jethro!" Jethro says.

"My name's Jethro!"

"Jethro, leave it, just shut up!" The Doctor tells him, only to be repeated yet again by Sky.

"Jethro, leave it, just shut up!" Everyone else clams up, still staring, the incessant repetition making the cabin more and more tense. It's just the Doctor and Sky then.

"Why are you repeating?"

"Why are you repeating?"

"What is that, learning?"

"What is that, learning?"

"Copying?"

"Copying?"

"Absorbing?"

"Absorbing?"

A pause as the Doctor tries to think of someone.

"The square root of pi is 1.772453050905516027298167483341...wow!" Sky starts near the middle of when the Doctor was speaking.

"The square root of pi is 1.772453050905516027298167483341...wow!"

Everyone's freaked out by that.

"But that's impossible." Professor Hobbes says, completely astonished.

"But that's impossible."

"She couldn't repeat all that." Dee Dee says.

"She couldn't repeat all that."

"Tell her to stop!" Val tells no one in particular.

"Tell her to stop!"

"She's driving me mad!" She continues.

"She's driving me mad!"

"Just make her STOP!"

"Just make her STOP!"

When Sky raises her voice at the end, it tips the room over the edge. Panic rises, and four people talk at once.

"Stop her staring at me, shut her up, someone shut her up." Val Cane yells.

"Just stop it, you're scaring my wife, I'm telling you to stop." Biff demands Sky.

"It's got to be a trick. Doctor, did you plan that with her?" The hostess tries to question the Doctor.

"Now stop it, all of you, keep it down, just keep it down." He tells the others.

During this, Sky's eyes dart like crazy as she repeats all the voices simultaneously.

"Driving me mad scaring my wife Doctor did you plan keep it down," was what she ended up saying. Her ability scared everyone, the volume of now six speeches colliding.

"Stop talking! Do you hear me? Stop talking, just stop talking, I said, stop talking! Biff, don't just stand there, do something, make her stop!" Val tells her husband.

"I'm telling you, whatever your name is. If you don't shut up, so help me... That's an order! I'm ordering you! Do you hear me, stop repeating!" Biff orders Sky.

"Mrs, Silvestry, you're scaring the passengers. I don't know why, or how, but you've got to stop, right now. We're safe, we've go air, and the rescue services are on the way." The hostess tries to tell Sky.

"It's not just the voice, it's her eyes. Doctor, look at her eyes, what's wrong with her eyes? What is that? You're a Doctor, what is it, what's wrong with her?" Professor Hobbes asks the Doctor.

"She can copy anything! Five! Ten! Emrys! Thirty five! Forty none! Five hundred! Six six six! Look at her, Doctor, just look at her. One million seven hundred and twenty six!" Jethro says, astonished.

"That's impossible, that's physically impossible. That's not the same woman, there's something else, inside her. Just look at her, Professor, she's changed, she's different, she's something else." Dee Dee says. One of the only who actually seem to know what's right, and what's wrong.

The Doctor just boggles at Sky as she's repeating the speeches at once.

"Stop talking so help me Silvestry Emrys, thirty five! Scaring the passengers Doctor look not the same woman I'm ordering you! Stop repeating rescue services one million seven else inside her make her stop!"

The voices keep rising until the lights come back on. Low-level, darker, non-colored emergency lighting shocks everyone into silence, their attention away from Sky.

"it's the back-up systems." The hostess says.

"Well! That's a bit better."Biff says.

"What about the rescue, how long's it going to take?" Val asks. The others start a conversation, almost like Sky isn't there anymore. Jethro still watches Sky, unnerved by what he's seeing.

"Then I suggest we all calm down. This panic isn't helping." Professor Hobbes says, still not noticing what Sky was doing. "And tha poor woman is evidently in a state of self-induced hysteria, we should leave her alone. Now sit down! Deep breaths. Hostess, I think a nice hot drink might do us all the power of good."

Jethro decides he should say something.

"Doctor..." He says.

"I know." The Doctor was watching her too.

"Doctor, now step back, I think you should leave her...alone." Professor Hobbes looks at Sky, and sees she's talking with him. "What's she doing?" He continues. "How can she do that?"

"But... she's talking with you." Jethro's mum says, horrified, accompanied by Sky. "And with me! Oh my God! Biff, what's she doing?"

"She's repeating at exactly the same time." Jethro and Sky answer.

"That's impossible." Dee Dee and Sky say.

"There's not even a delay." Says Professor Hobbes and Sky.

"Oh man, this is weird." Jethro and Sky say. It may be weird, but Jethro feels a sense of connection.

"I think you should all be very, very quiet, have you got that?" The Doctor and Sky say.

"How's she doing it?" Val and Sky ask.

"Mrs. Cane, please, be quiet." The Doctor and Sky tell her.

"But how can she do that? She's got my voice, she's go my words!" Her and Sky continue. Biff hold his wife and tries to sooth her.

"Sweetheart, be quiet, just.. Hush now, hush." Then to Sky, "She's doing it to me!" They say.

"Just stop it, all of you. Stop it, please." The Doctor and Sky say. Everyone's silent now, staring at the Doctor as he faces Sky.

"Now then, Sky. Are you Sky? Is Sky still in there? Mrs. Silvestry?" A pause. "You know exactly what I'm going to say, how are you doing that?" Another pause, then suddenly: "Roast beef! Bananas. The Medusa Cascade." There's a longer pause here.

"BANG! Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Tardis!" Pause. "Shamble bobble dibble dooble."

"Oh Doctor, you're so handsome. Yes I am, thank you." Pause. "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO-" He suddenly stops, hoping Sky will continue with P, but she stops with him. Everyone's very quiet now, like no one dares to be too loud.

"She's synchronized." Professor Hobbes and Sky say.

"First she repeats, then she catches up. What's the next stage?" The Doctor and Sky say.

"Next stage of what?" Say Dee Dee and Sky.

"That's not her, is it? That's not Mrs. Silvestry anymore." Jethro and Sky say grimly.

"I don't think so, no." The Doctor and Sky answer.

Horror. Val puts her hands to her mouth, starting to cry. Biff holds her as she makes little sobbing noises.

Little sobbing noises.

Sky watches her, in synch with the sobs, though throughout it all she never loses the slight smile on her face.

The Doctor stands, and carefully backs away from Sky.

"I think, the more we talk, the more she learns. Now, I'm all for education, but in this case, maybe not. Let's just... move back. Come on. Come with me." He and Sky say to the others. He heads for the back. "Everyone, get back, all of you, as far as you can."

"Doctor, just make her stop." Val and Sky say with a sob.

"Val, come on, with me, come to the back. Stop looking at her. Come on, Jethro, you too, everyone, come on." The Doctor and Sky say. They all move to the back of the bus, still glancing back at Sky, so scared of her, and she stays where she is, staring at them. Everyone is quiet, intense with a sense of dread.

"Fifty minutes. That's all we need." The Doctor and Sky say. "Fifty minutes till the rescue arrives. And she's not exactly strong, look at her, all she's got is out voices."

"I can't look at her. It's those eyes." Mrs. Cane and Sky say.

"We must not look at Goblin Men." Dee Dee and Sky say.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Say Biff and Sky.

"It's a poem. Christina Rossetti." The Doctor and Sky inform.

"We must not look at Goblin Men,

We must not buy their fruits.

Who knows upon what soil they fed,

Their hungry, thirsty fruits?" Dee Dee and Sky say.

"Actually, I don't think that's helping." The Doctor and Sky say.

"She's not a goblin, or a monster, she's just a very sick woman." Professor Hobbes and Sky say.

"Maybe that's why it went for her." Jethro and Sky say dreadfully.

"There is no 'it!'" Professor Hobbes and Sky say. Jethro disagrees.

"Think about it, though. That knocking, it went all the way round the bus. Till it found her. And she was the most scared, out of all of us. Maybe that's what it needed. That's how it got in."

"For the last time! Nothing could live on the surface of Midnight!" The Professor and Sky say.

"Professor, I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe, but perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own. Now trust me, I've got previous! I think there might well be some... consciousness inside Mrs. Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there. And it's our job to help her." The Doctor and Sky say. _Some consciousness..._Jethro swears something like this had happened, like _he_ was somehow possessed_._

_"Fomorroh are creatures of dark magic. Even if you cut off their heads, you cannot kill them. Another will just grow in its place. In the days of the Old Religion, they were revered by the High Priestesses as they allowed them to control people's_ minds."

Jethro shakes his head, confused at what he just thought, confused at what the evil looking woman from his dreams was doing. He head no time to think of that, though, because there was a greater threat happening.

Jethro had missed some of the conversation when he had that vision.

"...I don't want her becoming me, or things could get a whole lot worse." The Doctor says.

"Oh, like you're so special." Jethro's mum tells the Doctor.

"As it happens, yes, I am. So that's decided. We stay back, and we wait. When the rescue ship comes, we can get her to a hospital." For once, though, the Doctor doesn't have authority. The hostess speaks up, cold and fixed.

"We should throw her out."

"I beg your pardon?" Professor Hobbes asks.

"Can we do that?" Val asks.

"Don't be ridiculous." The Doctor says.

"That thing, whatever it is, killed the driver, and the machanic, and I don't think she's finished yet." The hostess says.

"She can't even move!" The Doctor protests.

"Oh just _look _at her!" The hostess argues. They all turn to look at Sky's eyes, her muttering, and her slight smile. "Look at her eyes! She killed Joe, and she killed Claude, and we're next."

"She's still doing it." Biff says about the still talking-at-the-same-time Sky. "Just stop it! Stop talking! STOP IT!

"Biff, sweetheart, don't." Val tells her husband.

"She won't stop!" He continues before calming down a little. "We can't throw her out though, we can't even open the doors."

"No one is getting thrown out!" The Doctor says, exasperated.

"Yes we can." Dee Dee says. They all look at her now, nervous, but determined. "'Cause...there's an air pressure seal." She turns to the hostess. "Like when you opened the cabin door, you weren't pulled out, you had a couple of seconds, 'cause it takes the pressure-wall about six seconds to collapse. Well, six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out."

"Thanks, Dee Dee, just what we needed." The Doctor says sarcastically.

"Would it kill her? Outside?" Val asks.

"I don't know, but she's got a body now, it would certainly kill the physical form." Dee Dee answers.

"No one's killing anyone." The Doctor repeats. The hostess, and everyone else for that matter, ignores him.

"I wouldn't risk the cabin door twice," she says, "But we've got this one." The hostess looks to the Emergency Door behind them. "All we need to do is grab hold of her, and throw her out."

"Now listen! All of you! For all we know, that's a brand new lifefore over there. And if it's come inside, to discover us, then what's it found? This little bunch of Humans, what do you amount to? Murder? "Cause this is where you decide. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? really? Or are you better than that?" The Doctor tries to convince everyone. _No._ Jethro thinks. He doesn't want murder, no matter who it is.

A pause. Just as he should be changing everyone's minds, the hostess speaks up.

"I'd do it."

"So would I." Jethro's father says.

"And me." His mum says, agreeing with her husband.

"I think we should." Dee Dee agrees.

"What?!" The Doctor asks her, shocked.

"I want her out."

"You can't say that!"

"I'm sorry, but you said it yourself, Doctor, she's growing in strength." Dee Dee continues.

"That's not what I said!"

Upset now, Dee Dee says, "I just want to go home. I'm sorry. I want to be safe."

"You'll be safe, any minute now, the rescue truck is on its way." The Doctor reassures her.

"But what happens then, Doctor?" The hostess says. "If it takes her back to the Leisure Palace, if that thing reaches civilization... what if it spreads?"

"No, cause when we get back to base, I'll be there to contain it." The Doctor says.

"Well you haven't done much so far!" Val tells him.

"You're just standing at the back with the rest of us!" Biff says.

"She's dangerous, and it's my job to keep this vessel safe. We should get rid of her." The hostess says stubbornly.

"Now hold on, just hold on, I think, perhaps, we're all going a little bit too far." Professor Hobbes says.

"At last! Thank you." The Doctor tells the Professor.

"Two people dead." The hostess says strongly.

"Then don't make it a third!" The Doctor turns to Jethro. "Jethro, what do you say?"

"I'm not killing anyone." He says immediately.

"Thank you." The Doctor tells him.

"But he's just a boy!" Jethro's mum says.

"What, so I don't get a vote?" Jethro was so sick of adults looking down on him just because he was younger than them.

"There isn't a vote! It's not happening! Ever. If you try to trow her out that door, then you'll have to get past me first." The Doctor says, completely serious.

A Pause.

"Okay." The hostess says sternly.

"Fine by me." Biff agrees.

"Oh, now you're just being stupid." The Doctor says, now turning to Biff. "Just think about it! Could you actually take hold of someone and throw them out that door?"

"Calling me a coward?" Biff almost shouts at the Doctor. Now, cold, hard paranoia is taking hold as they all start to look at the Doctor.

"Who put you in charge, anyway?" Val asks him.

"I'm sorry, but... you're a Doctor of what, exactly?" Professor Hobbes questions.

"He wasn't even booked in." The hostess tells everyone. "Rest of you, tickets in advance. He just turns turned up, out of the blue."

"I'm just... traveling. I'm a traveler, that's all..."

"Like an immigrant?" Val asks.

"Who were you talking to? Just before you got on board, you were talking to someone, who was it?" The hostess pesters the Doctor.

"Just, Donna, just my friend."

"What were you saying to her?" Biff asks.

"Hasn't even told us his name." Val states.

"Thing is though, Doctor. You've been loving this." Jethro speaks up.

"Oh Jethro, not you." The Doctor says sadly.

"No, but ever since the trouble started, you've been loving it."

"It has to be said," Professor Hobbes tells he Doctor, "you do seem to have a certain... glee."

"All right, I'm interested, yes, I can't help it, cause whatever's inside her, it's brand new, and that's fascinating!"

"What, you _wanted _this to happen?" Val says incredulously.

"No!"

"And you were talking to her, all on your own, before the trouble, right at the front. You were talking to that Sky woman, the two of you together, I saw you." Biff tells the Time Lord.

"We all did!" His wife agrees.

"What did you say to her?" Biff asks the Doctor.

"I was just talking!"

"_Saying what?"_

"You called us Humans like you're not one of us." Jethro comments.

"He did! That's what he said!" His mum agrees.

"And the wiring, he went into that panel and opened up the wiring." Dee Dee comments.

"That was after!" The Doctor says, irritated.

"But _how did you know what to do?_" Biff pesters.

Exasperated, the Doctor shouts, "Because I'm _clever!_" This makes them all step away from him a fraction. They're colder now, hostile, The Doctor truly unnerved, for once. All is quiet.

"I see." Professor Hobbes says sarcastically. "Well. That makes things clear."

"What are we, then? Idiots?" Biff asks angrily.

"That's not what I meant." The Doctor tries to say.

"If you're clever, then what are we?" Dee Dee asks.

"You've been looking down on us from the moment we walked in." Val says with disgust.

"If he goes, then he's practically volunteered." The hostess says.

"Oh, _come on_, just listen to yourself, _please._" The Doctor says desperately.

"Do you mean...? We throw him out as well?" Biff asks the hostess, ignoring the Doctor.

"If we have to." She answers.

"Look, just... right, sorry, yes, hold on, just... I know, you're scared, and so am I, look at me, I am, I swear! But we all need to calm down, and cool off, and think." The Doctor says with a slightly hushed voice.

"Perhaps if you told us your name." Professor Hobbes tells the Doctor.

"Why does it matter?"

"Then tell us." The Doctor looks uncertain at the Professor.

"John Smith." Scorn and 'hah!' from the others.

"Your _real _name." The Professor tells him. No one noticed that at this point onward, Sky only repeated the Doctor instead of everyone.

"Doctor John Smith."

"He's lying, look at his face." Biff tells the others.

"His eyes are the same as hers." Val says.

"Why won't you tell us?" Jethro asks. _It's just a name._ Though, our young Jethro is thinking that names can be more powerful than they seem.

Still hushed, four of them burst into fierce verbal attacks on the Doctor.

"He's been lying to us, right from the start." Val says.

"No one's called John Smith! Come off it!" Biff demands the Doctor.

"Just tell us, Doctor, just say it." Jethro says, less fierce than the others.

"It's a simple question, what's your name?" he hostess nags the Time Lord.

They all stop when the Doctor steps back, scared of them. Now he's between Sky and the others, with his back to Sky.

Furious now, "Now listen to me! Listen to me, right now, because you need me, all of you, if we're going to get out of this, then you need me." The Doctor says. They were all watching him, except for Jethro. He had noticed something when the Doctor had moved. He was now intently watching Sky.

"So you keep saying!" The Professor scorns the Doctor, "You've been repeating yourself more than her."

"If anyone's in charge, it should be the Professor, he's an expert!" Val speaks up.

"Mum, just stop, just look." Jethro tell her quietly.

"You keep out of this, Jethro." She tells him angrily.

"But look at her!"

"She's stopped." Dee Dee says quietly, almost frightened.

The Doctor turns around to look at Sky, everyone else staring too.

"When did she..?" The Doctor says, Sky still repeating. "No she hasn't. look, she's still doing it."

"She looks the same to me." Val says, then realizes Sky no longer repeats her. With joy, "Oh, she's stopped! Look, I'm talking, and she's not!"

"What about me? Is she..?" Biff says, then with relief, "Look! Look at that! She's not doing me, she's let me go!"

Testing her, "Mrs. Silvestry?" The hostess says slowly. Relief. "Nor me! Nothing!"

"Sky, what are you doing?" The Doctor and Sky say.

"She's still doing him!" Dee Dee says.

"Doctor, it's you. She's only copying _you._" Professor Hobbes tell the Doctor, astounded.

"Why me?" The Doctor asks Sky, facing her properly now. "Why are you doing this?"

"She won't leave him alone! Do you see? I said so, she's _with_ him." Val says viciously.

"They're together!" Her husband agrees.

"How do you explain that, Doctor? Hm? If you're so clever." Professor Hobbes mocks him.

"I don't know." Unnerved, the Doctor tells Sky, "Sky, stop it. I said stop it. Just_ stop it_!" He stops himself, almost losing it for the first time. Then he approaches her, he has to.

"Look at the two of them." Val spits contemptuously. The Doctor kneels in front of Sky, everyone craning forward to watch, just a little, now scared of both Sky and the Doctor.

"Mrs. Silvestry, I'm trying to understand. You've captured my speech, what for? What do you need?" The Doctor realizes something. "You need my voice in particular, the cleverest voice in the room. Why? Cause I'm the only one who can help? Oh, I'd love that to be true, but your eyes. They're saying something else." He moves closer, face to face. "Listen to me. Whatever you want, if it's life, or form, or consciousness, or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone, and I'll help you. That's a promise. So, what do you think?" There's a pause, then he finishes his speech. Something bad, _very _bad happens then.

Sky starts.

"Do we have a deal?" The Doctor said it, but two words after her. Silence, both staring as this sinks in. The others saw it to.

"Hold on, did she just...?" Dee Dee trails off.

"She spoke first." Jethro confirms her unfinished question with a rising lump in his throat and a shiver down his spine.

"She can't have." His mum objects.

"She did!" Professor Hobbes says.

"She spoke first!" Jethro confirms once more.

"Oh look at that, I'm ahead of you." Sky says.

"Oh look at that, I''m ahead of you."

"Did you see? She spoke before he did! Definitely!" The Professor exclaims.

"He's copying her." Jethro says, his voice that of a scared little kid.

"Doctor? What's happening?" Professor Hobbes ask the Doctor. He doesn't get a proper answer.

"I think it's moved. I think it's letting me go." Sky says.

"I think it's moved. I think it's letting me go."

Sky's getting stronger. The delay in the synch is slightly longer, the Doctor now a few words behind, and he knows it. There's fear in his eyes, and his face is trying to say, _this is wrong!_ But he can't stop his mouth from saying what Sky says, and nothing else. At the same time, Sky is getting _physically _stronger, and she sits upright. The Doctor's weaker, stuck kneeling.

"What does that mean, letting you go from what?" Dee Dee asks Sky.

"But _he's _repeating now, he's the one doing it! It's him!" Biff exclaims.

"They're separating." Is all Jethro can muster.

"Mrs. Silvestry? Is that you?" Professor Hobbes asks cautiously.

"Yes, yes it is, it's me, I'm coming back. Listen. It's me!"

"Yes, yes it is, it's me, I'm coming back. Listen. It's me?" The Doctor's face is saying a whole different story. _No no no!_

"Like... it's passed into the Doctor. It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside him." Jethro guesses. Dee Dee has gone very still and quiet, watching carefully.

"No, that's not what happened." She says.

"But look at her!" Val disagrees.

"I can move. I can feel again, I'm coming back to life. And look at him, he can't move." Sky says, almost with a sneer.

"I can move. I can feel again, I'm coming back to life. And look at him, he can't move." Sky goes to stand, feeble, and reaches out for help. The Doctor's losing his overlap in speech, and is now just an echo.

"Help me."

"Help me."

"Professor..?"

"Professor..?"

"Get me away from him."

"Get me away from him."

"Please."

"Please."

The Professor holds back, still scared of her, but she's weak, begging, and he can't stop himself. Hobbes goes to her, and helps Sky stand.

"Oh, thank you." She tells him, smiling.

"Oh thank you."

He leads her away from the Doctor, who has no strength is still on his knees, and now has his back to everyone, so they can't see the pure panic on his face. Its easier to blame him if they can't see him.

"They've completely separated." Jethro says.

"It's him, it's in him, do you see? I said it was him all the time!" His father says.

"She's free! She's been saved!" His mum says, almost happily.

"It was so cold."

"It was so cold."

"I couldn't breathe." Sky's pathetic, reaching out for Val.

"I couldn't breathe."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I must've scared you so much." Val runs to her, and hugs Sky, tearful.

"I must've scared you so much."

"No, no," she tells Mrs. Silvestry, "it's all right, I've got you, there you are, my love, it's gone, everything's all right now."

"I wouldn't touch her." Dee Dee says, almost disgusted. Sky turns her head toward her, a grin on her face. A grin of amusement.

"But it's gone, she's clean. It's passed into him." Biff tells Dee Dee. She still argues.

"That's not what happened."

"Thank you for your opinion, Dee, but clearly, Mrs. Silvestry has been released." Professor Hobbes tells her.

"_No._"

The Doctor's face, unseen, screams, _listen to her!_

"Just leave her alone!" Val tells Dee Dee, defending Sky. "She's safe, isn't she? Jethro? It's let her go, hasn't it?" He knows in his heart it's the wrong decision, but Jethro agrees with his mum.

"I... think so, yeah. Looks like it. Professor?" Everyone turns to Professor Hobbes.

"Well, um, I'd say, from observation, the Doctor can't move, and when she was possessed, she couldn't move, so..." He trails off.

"Well there we are!" Biff says, "Now the only problem we've got is this Doctor."

Now, Sky is clever, she chose the Doctor after all. She starts to twist the tension, and all stare at the Doctor in growing terror. Except for Dee Dee, and unnoticed at the back, the hostess.

"It's inside his head."

"It's inside his head."

"It killed the Driver."

"It killed the Driver."

"And the mechanic."

"And the mechanic."

"And now it wants us."

"And now it wants us."

"I said so!" Val blurts. Sky continues.

"He's waited so long."

"He's waited so long."

"In the dark."

"In the dark."

"And the cold."

"And the cold."

"And the diamonds."

"And the diamonds."

"Until you came."

"Until you came."

"Bodies so _hot_."

"Bodies so _hot_."

"With blood."

"With blood."

"And pain."

"And pain."

"Make it stop, oh my God, make him stop, someone make him stop!" Val says, absolutely terrified.

"But _she's_ saying it!" Dee Dee says exasperatedly.

"And you can shut up!" Biff says to Dee Dee angrily.

"I'm sorry! But it's not him, it's _her,_ he's just repeating!" _He's just doing what he's told to._ Jethro thinks, starting to understand what she's saying.

"But that's what the thing does! It repeats!" Jethro's father argues with Dee Dee. Throughout it, watching quietly, is the hostess, staying calm. For that's what she was trained to do, is it not?

"Let her talk." She speaks up.

"Oi, what do you know? Fat lot of good you've been!" Biff tells her.

"Just let her explain." The hostess says through clenched teeth, irritated. All eyes go to Dee Dee, which she hates.

"I think... I mean, from what I've seen... It repeats, then it synchronizes, then it goes to the next stage. That's exactly what the Doctor said would happen!"

"What, and you're on his side?" Biff questions her again, not believing the truth she believes to be self-evident.

"No, but that's what I saw! She took his voice!"

"But the voice it the thing!" Jethro speaks up. Dee Dee's very upset now.

"And _she's _the voice. She stole it! Listen to her! It's not possessing him, it's _dr__aining _him."

Quiet, more to herself, the hostess is the only one who _fully _believes her, a confused Jethro only believes her partially, but more than the others. No one pays her attention as she says to herself, "She's got his voice."

"No that can't be true," Val says to Dee Dee, "cause it can't be, 'cause I saw it pass into him, I saw it with my own eyes!"

"So did I!" Her husband agrees.

"But you _didn't!" _Dee Dee continues to argue.

"It went from her, to him." Val turns to her son. "You saw it, didn't you?"

"I don't know." He says in a hushed voice like a scared little boy being caught doing something he shouldn't.

"Don't be stupid, Jethro, of course you did!" His mother answers for him.

"I suppose... he was right next to her." He tells her, not quite fully agreeing. He really _didn't _see it transfer.

"There we are then!" His mum says.

"Everyone saw it, _everyone!" _Biff practically yells at Dee Dee.

"But you _didn't_! You're just making it up! I know what I saw, and I saw her, _stealing his voice."_ Dee Dee nearly yells back.

"She's as bad as him, someone shut her up." Val says with anger and disgust. The Professor, desperate to prove himself, aims all his impotent anger at Dee Dee.

"I think you should be quiet, Dee."

"I'm only saying-"

"_And that's an order!_ You're making a fool of yourself! Pretending you're an expert in mechanics, and hydraulics, when I can tell you that you're nothing more than average, at best! Now shut up!" This silences Dee Dee, humiliates her. Sky speaks again, plaintive and mystical.

"That's how he does it."

"That's how he does it."

"He makes you fight.

"He makes you fight.

"Creeps into your head."

"Creeps into your head."

"And whispers." Sky closes her eyes and whispers.

"And whispers."

"Listen."

"Listen."

"_Just listen." _

"_Just listen." _

"That's him."

"That's him."

"Inside." Val clutches her head, terrified, vicious.

"Inside."

"Don' let him whisper, shut him up, shut him up, get him out of my head!" She shrieks.

"Throw him out! Yeah, we should throw him out!" Biff says, angered by what "the Doctor" is doing to his wife.

"Well don't just_ talk_ about it! Don't be so useless! _Do _something!" Val shouts.

"I will! You watch me! I'm going to throw him out!" Biff shouts back.

"Yes!" Sky says excitedly.

"Yes!"

"Throw him out!"

"Throw him out!"

"Get rid of him!"

"Get rid of him!"

"Now!"

"Now!"

Biff goes to the Doctor, to throw him out! Everything is wild now.

"Don't!" Dee Dee screams.

"It'll be you next!" Val tells her.

Dee Dee shrinks back, scared and useless. Her moment had come, and she failed.

Jethro watched as his father hauled the Doctor. He sees the look on the Doctor's face.

And, he's terrified.

The next few moments are a blur for Jethro. There's several thoughts swimming ever so quickly in his mind.

_Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! What would the man from my dreams do? The brave man who could seemingly conquer anything with the blink of an eye. What would he think of this?_

The answer enters Jethro's mind, but he doesn't pay as much attention to it as he probably should.

_He'd think it was sorcery._

Jethro's trying to hard to think of other answers.

_Why did I have these dreams and that vision now? Are they connected?! Am I supposed to do something?_

His thoughts drain away when his father's voice cuts through them, causing Jethro to focus on him.

The Professor was hopelessly trying to help Jethro's father trow out the Doctor, and Jethro's mum was chanting, "Throw him out! Just throw him out! Just do it!" Over and over again. Sky chants herself, urging the others to throw the Doctor out.

"Jethro! Help him! Jethro! Don't just stand there! _Do as I say!_" His father yells at him. Jethro's so scared and torn with what to do, but he runs to help, desperate, still just a kid, and picks up the Doctor's legs with the Professor, with his father at the Doctor's head, still repeating Sky."

"Do it now!" The Doctor repeats, his face full of anguish. Jethro feels tears in his eyes, then running down his cheeks and the trio lift the Doctor.

Sky backs down the aisle, stronger and stronger.

"Faster!"

"Faster!"

"That's the way!"

"That's the way!"

"You can do it!"

"You can do it!"

"Molto bene!"

"Molto bene!"

"_Allons-y!"_

"_Allons-y!"_

_This isn't right! I don't care if who's possessed! This is wrong! _Jethro screams in his head. He's still a helpless teenage boy that has no ability to stop it, though. Sky still shouts on, proud.

"The starlight waits!"

"The starlight waits!"

"The emptiness!"

"The emptiness!"

"The Midnight sky!"

"The Midnight sky!"

Everyone freezes, mid-action, as the hostess strides forward, towards Sky, grabs hold of her, and keeps marching, fast, just the last few steps towards the Emergency Door.

The hostess slams the button, and the door _whooshes!_ open.

Both women in the doorway, which becomes a frame of light, wind and smoke.

"_No!" _Sky screams as the hostess holds her tight.

"_No!" _ Its almost as though the helpless Doctor _means_ this repeat.

_WHOOSH!_

The hostess and Sky are pulled out together, out of the door, fast, flying into darkness. Gone.

_SCHUNK! _The door slams shut.

And it's over.

Frozen silence.

The madness has gone, and Biff, the Professor and Jethro drop the Doctor, ashamed.

The Doctor can finally speak. Exhausted, "It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone..."

As his litany fades away, he just stays on the floor, wounded, aching, and recovering.

Biff steps all the way back to the front wall, stunned, sinking to the floor, heaving for breath.

The Professor just curls up, hiding his head.

Jethro retreats to one of the side walls, not believe what he just became.

_The brave, brave man would be so ashamed of me, so disappointed._

Dee Dee was crying, and she turned away, unable to look at any of them.

Val just stares at the Doctor.

Silence.

Then, quietly, but almost in a matter-of-fact tone, Val says to the Doctor, "I said it was her."

The Doctor just looks at her.

Such a look that silences her.

* * *

_20 minutes later_

More lights were on now, though not full-power. Everyone sat apart from one another, as far from another as possible. A voice is heard over the intercom.

"...repeat, Crusader 50, rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes, door-seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding, repeat, prepare for boarding."

The Doctor looks over to the Professor.

"The Hostess. What was her name?" He asks.

"I don't know," Professor Hobbes answers sadly.

The Doctor looks across at Dee Dee, Val, Biff, and Jethro.

They all shake their heads.

No one knows.

They're all sad about it, and they all regret their actions, and this trip changes the way many of them will look at life.

It will turn their world into something new.

None of them know just how much one of their lives is about to go down a completely different road.

* * *

That night, Jethro Cane dreams that same dream. The thing that's different; it continues. It keeps going as Jethro and the familiar man are alone in a forest.

_"I'm sorry. I thought I'd defied the prophecy. I thought I was in time." He says._

_"What are you talking about?" The blonde man asks him. _

_"I defeated the saxons. The dragon. And yet...And yet I knew it was Mordred that I must stop."_

_"The person who defeated them was the sorcerer." The man argues. _Sorcerer?

_"It was me." Jethro grips the man's wrist as he cries._

_"Don't be ridiculous, Merlin." _Merlin? Like, that really old "magic" guy?

_"This is stupid, why would you say that?"_

_"I'm a..." Jethro/Merlin pauses, he's crying too hard. "I'm a sorcerer. I have magic. And I use it for you, Arthur. Only for you." _Arthur, the name sounds achingly familiar to Jethro._  
_

_"Merlin, you are not a sorcerer. I would know!" The man, Arthur, tells him._

_"Look. Here." Merlin turns his head toward the fire and raises his hand. Arthur raises his head. "Upastige draca!" Jethro's eyes glow gold, like the evil looking woman's, and an animated dragon forms from the flames. _

This time, Jethro doesn't _let_ the dream continue, for he had seen enough to remember. Remember that the dream _wasn't_ a dream, but a memory, one of the last memories of his friend and king, Arthur. Jethro remembered that his name _was_ Emrys, according to the Druids. Jethro knows now why the incident on the Crusader 50 seemed so familiar. He _had_ been possessed before, by Morgana Pendragon, and Gaius and Gwen had helped him.

He also knows why he's remembering who he is _now_.

The Once and Future Kings is going to rise again, and soon.

For this to succeed, he's going to need help, and who better than one particular clever man? The cleverest of them all who he saw on the Crusader Fifty just hours before.

The Doctor.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! Finally done! Now I realized during the time I was writing this chapter that Jethro/Merlin isn't the first of Merlin characters to meet the Doctor, like Richard Wilson (Gaius) and Angel Coulby (Gwen), but don't worry! I have a plan to fix that without completely redoing the beginning of the story! Next character will be Gwen/Katherine! Hope you enjoyed this _very long chapter_ 'cause I can't guarantee the next time I'll be able to update! I hope you like it!  
**

**P.S. Please excuse any/all grammar/spelling mistakes. I'm starting to think I should've broken this up into multiple chapters...oh well. **


End file.
